03/13/2019

Review: The Lake House by Kate Morton

A missing child.

June 1933, and the Edevane family's country house, Loeanneth, is polished and gleaming, ready for the much-anticipated Midsummer Eve party. Alice Edevane, sixteen years old and a budding writer, is especially excited. Not only has she worked out the perfect twist for her novel, she's also fallen helplessly in love with someone she shouldn't have. But by the time midnight strikes and fireworks light up the night skies, the Edevane family will have suffered a loss so great that they leave Loeanneth forever.

An abandoned house.

Seventy years later, after a particularly troubling case, Sadie Sparrow is sent on an enforced break from her job with the Metropolitan Police. She retreats to her beloved grandfather's cottage in Cornwall but soon finds herself at a loose end. Until one day, Sadie stumbles upon an abandoned house surrounded by overgrown gardens and dense woods, and learns the story of a baby boy who disappeared without a trace.An unsolved mystery.Meanwhile, in the attic writing room of her elegant Hampstead home, the formidable Alice Edevane, now an old lady, leads a life as neatly plotted as the bestselling detective novels she writes. Until a young police detective starts asking questions about her family's past, seeking to resurrect the complex tangle of secrets Alice has spent her life trying to escape.Hardcover, 495 pagesPublished October 20th 2015 by Atria BooksSource: Publisher

Four and a half stars: A captivating story that presents a mystery that weaves back and forth through time.

In June 1933, the Edevane family’s happiness was shattered when eleventh month old Theo vanishes without a trace. Flash forward seventy years. The marvelous Lake House known as Loeannath, lays abandoned, frozen in time, when Detective Sadie Sparrow stumbles upon it while visiting the countryside. For some reason, Sadie is drawn to the magnificent old house, even more so when she uncovers the mystery that surrounds the house. Sadie can’t leave it alone, she has to know more, so she reaches out to Alice Edevane who is now in her eighties, to help solve the mystery. Alice wants nothing to do with the past, she buried her secrets when she left Loeannath at sixteen. Unfortunately, the past has a way of coming back, will Alice finally learn the truth?

What I Liked:

The Lake House laid buried in my pile for far too long. Once I finally got around to reading this book, I was captivated. This is a sprawling mystery that covers almost a century. It begins at the turn of the twentieth century with young Eleanor. Then the story flashes forward to 1933 to the night young Theo goes missing, and then it jumps forward to 2003 where we find Alice as an old woman who is avoiding the past, but the past won’t let go. I loved seeing this one unfold. It is steeped in history and mystery and there are so many secrets. I was hooked.

I love books that move through time, and I thought Ms. Morton did an excellent job with the time line. This book has so much history to cover, and I enjoyed going back to the beginning of Loeannath and then moving forward to uncover all the mystery and the secrets. I thought it was fantastic the way the story moved around, and I loved each revelation.

If you enjoyed layered mysteries, this is one to read. There is so much more to this than a missing child. As the book moves through the decades, it follows Eleanor, the matriarch of the The Edevane family, her husband Anthony and Alice. Each family member has secrets to share, and some are certainly more startling than others. In present day, there is Sadie, a young detective, who is not only working to solve the long buried mystery of the Edevane family, but she is always trying to unravel her last case that caused her some major problems. There is so much going on in this one, and with each chapter, another piece is revealed. It was so fun to finally see how all those pieces fit together, and when all was said and done, I was shocked at how it all came together. A fascinating mystery.

Talk about twists and turns! The author is a master a planting red herrings and clues that will led the reader astray. I promise, you won’t figure this one out. I loved the suspense.

The ending was brilliant. I loved seeing how everything worked out, and I was so pleased and surprised by the developments. It was fantastic!

And The Not So Much:

Even though I loved the ending, it felt a little too abrupt. I was left wanting a little more. I wish that there was more on Sadie and her daughter. I would have loved to see more of that part of the story.

Even though I enjoyed the writing and the story, the author’s use of vocabulary becomes a bit pretentious. I like to think that I have a strong vocabulary, but time and time again, I found myself highlighting and looking up words, only to roll my eyes as so many of them were thrown in there I would say only for the sake of using big words.

I liked all the red herrings, but once I caught on to the author’s tricks, I quickly learned to dismiss some of them, especially the ones that seemed way out of character. Sometimes the clues were a little too much.

The Lake House is fascinating multi layered mystery that moves back and forth through time. This is a big, complicated read that requires time and patience, but it is so worth the journey. I loved the story, the mystery and the suspense. I especially enjoyed seeing how it all fit together. A brilliant read for anyone who likes a bit of a challenge. I wish I had read this sooner!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for this review.

Comments

Review: The Lake House by Kate Morton

A missing child.

June 1933, and the Edevane family's country house, Loeanneth, is polished and gleaming, ready for the much-anticipated Midsummer Eve party. Alice Edevane, sixteen years old and a budding writer, is especially excited. Not only has she worked out the perfect twist for her novel, she's also fallen helplessly in love with someone she shouldn't have. But by the time midnight strikes and fireworks light up the night skies, the Edevane family will have suffered a loss so great that they leave Loeanneth forever.

An abandoned house.

Seventy years later, after a particularly troubling case, Sadie Sparrow is sent on an enforced break from her job with the Metropolitan Police. She retreats to her beloved grandfather's cottage in Cornwall but soon finds herself at a loose end. Until one day, Sadie stumbles upon an abandoned house surrounded by overgrown gardens and dense woods, and learns the story of a baby boy who disappeared without a trace.An unsolved mystery.Meanwhile, in the attic writing room of her elegant Hampstead home, the formidable Alice Edevane, now an old lady, leads a life as neatly plotted as the bestselling detective novels she writes. Until a young police detective starts asking questions about her family's past, seeking to resurrect the complex tangle of secrets Alice has spent her life trying to escape.Hardcover, 495 pagesPublished October 20th 2015 by Atria BooksSource: Publisher

Four and a half stars: A captivating story that presents a mystery that weaves back and forth through time.

In June 1933, the Edevane family’s happiness was shattered when eleventh month old Theo vanishes without a trace. Flash forward seventy years. The marvelous Lake House known as Loeannath, lays abandoned, frozen in time, when Detective Sadie Sparrow stumbles upon it while visiting the countryside. For some reason, Sadie is drawn to the magnificent old house, even more so when she uncovers the mystery that surrounds the house. Sadie can’t leave it alone, she has to know more, so she reaches out to Alice Edevane who is now in her eighties, to help solve the mystery. Alice wants nothing to do with the past, she buried her secrets when she left Loeannath at sixteen. Unfortunately, the past has a way of coming back, will Alice finally learn the truth?

What I Liked:

The Lake House laid buried in my pile for far too long. Once I finally got around to reading this book, I was captivated. This is a sprawling mystery that covers almost a century. It begins at the turn of the twentieth century with young Eleanor. Then the story flashes forward to 1933 to the night young Theo goes missing, and then it jumps forward to 2003 where we find Alice as an old woman who is avoiding the past, but the past won’t let go. I loved seeing this one unfold. It is steeped in history and mystery and there are so many secrets. I was hooked.

I love books that move through time, and I thought Ms. Morton did an excellent job with the time line. This book has so much history to cover, and I enjoyed going back to the beginning of Loeannath and then moving forward to uncover all the mystery and the secrets. I thought it was fantastic the way the story moved around, and I loved each revelation.

If you enjoyed layered mysteries, this is one to read. There is so much more to this than a missing child. As the book moves through the decades, it follows Eleanor, the matriarch of the The Edevane family, her husband Anthony and Alice. Each family member has secrets to share, and some are certainly more startling than others. In present day, there is Sadie, a young detective, who is not only working to solve the long buried mystery of the Edevane family, but she is always trying to unravel her last case that caused her some major problems. There is so much going on in this one, and with each chapter, another piece is revealed. It was so fun to finally see how all those pieces fit together, and when all was said and done, I was shocked at how it all came together. A fascinating mystery.

Talk about twists and turns! The author is a master a planting red herrings and clues that will led the reader astray. I promise, you won’t figure this one out. I loved the suspense.

The ending was brilliant. I loved seeing how everything worked out, and I was so pleased and surprised by the developments. It was fantastic!

And The Not So Much:

Even though I loved the ending, it felt a little too abrupt. I was left wanting a little more. I wish that there was more on Sadie and her daughter. I would have loved to see more of that part of the story.

Even though I enjoyed the writing and the story, the author’s use of vocabulary becomes a bit pretentious. I like to think that I have a strong vocabulary, but time and time again, I found myself highlighting and looking up words, only to roll my eyes as so many of them were thrown in there I would say only for the sake of using big words.

I liked all the red herrings, but once I caught on to the author’s tricks, I quickly learned to dismiss some of them, especially the ones that seemed way out of character. Sometimes the clues were a little too much.

The Lake House is fascinating multi layered mystery that moves back and forth through time. This is a big, complicated read that requires time and patience, but it is so worth the journey. I loved the story, the mystery and the suspense. I especially enjoyed seeing how it all fit together. A brilliant read for anyone who likes a bit of a challenge. I wish I had read this sooner!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for this review.